“Yes, sir, I did; and, if it’s worth your care,
Ask Mr. Such-a-one, he told it me.
But, by the bye, ’twas two black crows—not three.”
Resolved to trace so wondrous an event,
Whip, to the third, the virtuoso went;
“Sir”—and so forth. “Why, yes; the thing is fact,
Though, in regard to number, not exact;
It was not two black crows—’twas only one;
The truth of that you may depend upon;
The gentleman himself told me the case.”